Luchi Breaks Down His Coaching Style on 105.3 The Fan

FRISCO, Texas - On this episode of “The Luchi Gonzalez Show” on 105.3 The Fan, presented by Toyota, head coach Luchi Gonzalez gave an in depth look at his leadership style and how he expects his players to become leaders in their own right.

If you missed the live episode, here are some highlights from this week’s installment. Plus, you can also listen to the whole episode after it airs on The Fan'swebsite.

Luchi opened the show by giving a rundown on his leadership style and how he goes about managing the many different personalities in the FC Dallas locker room.

“I think you have to wear a lot of different hats for leadership styles in different moments,” Luchi began. “You need to differentiate your approach with each player and each staff member in different moments. There are definitely moments when you have to have clear boundaries and hold your people accountable to those boundaries. You can’t just be buddy buddy all the time or best friends. We want to build friendships and meaningful relationships with support, but not at the sacrifice of honesty and critical decisions that make the group take the next step.

Luchi Gonzalez celebrates with his team in the 2019 playoff game against Seattle Sounders

While on the same leadership vein, Luchi discussed the importance of the many different kinds of leaders that help the team succeed over a long season.

“Within the team there are multiple leaders. I always challenge my entire team to show leadership: leading by being vocal, leading by example, leader by respect. I think soldiers are leaders with their effort, their mentality, their body language and attitudes. And there are social leaders who, maybe aren’t the model example on the field every time, but thy have the relationship and can bring people together. Having a balance of different personalities are important in the locker room.”

Lastly, Luchi spoke about his role as a head coach and how showing faith in his players is essential to the entire process.

I think it’s so important that no matter what the players do, the coach has to show that he has their back and the team’s back. Whether that player is starting or not, whether they’re a statistical leader or not, if they show effort and attitude that supports the team, then we’ve got their back.

As always, Luchi will join the guys on 105.3 The Fan again next Thursday at 1:30PM.